After leaving the school grounds, Dong Liang changed into a brocade robe again. He would entertain the city's businessmen and celebrities at Wanghai Tower in Fuzhou City in the evening.

Wanghai Tower is in Dongcheng. You can see it not far from Dongwu Gate. It is a three-story Chinese-style building with carved railings and painted buildings. It is considered the top club in Fuzhou City.

The owner of the restaurant is named Mo Weijiang. He is a famous maritime merchant in Fuzhou City and a big comprador. This man is very famous in Fuzhou's business district.

Businessmen are a group that is most sensitive to the direction of the wind. Now that the entire Fujian Province is surnamed Hua instead of Qing, everyone is trembling in their hearts.

The Taiping Army captured Tianjing all the way and adopted a policy of confiscating the property of these merchants. This made the merchants in Fuzhou City uneasy. They were worried that the escort army would also adopt such a policy.

Now that all of Fujian Province has been captured, they cannot escape even if they want to.

Dong Liang arrived relatively late. He could hear the noise upstairs from downstairs. It was obvious that these people were already communicating.

…

"I don't know anything else, but the Chinese practice official land ownership and subcontracting it to each household. Hey, those who have land at home will suffer." A middle-aged fat man wearing a brocade robe said.

"Yes, if even the land is taken away, will that take away the rest of our industry?"

"No, I've heard that when they take away land, they provide compensation and adopt a redemption policy. Moreover, they encourage industry and commerce, so the Chinese will do business themselves."

…

Everyone talked about the news they knew.

But they are all minor characters, and the real big shots will not express their opinions casually at this time.

In a large, splendidly decorated compartment on the top floor, Mo Weijiang sat there with a bunch of top-quality bodhi seeds in his hand.

Those who can enter this compartment are the largest local maritime merchants in Fujian Province.

Two of them were Pang Jiasi and Pei Guiyun who came from Funing Mansion. These two people were also considered prominent figures in the maritime business world.

They also had a keen sense of smell, so they followed the escort and calculated the time to break the city.

"Everyone, shopkeeper Mo is the master today. I, Pang Jiasi, am a rough man and don't know etiquette. I would like to use your precious treasure to say a few words. Over the years, our business has been led by foreigners. The market and transportation are all in the hands of foreigners.

Whatever you say is what you say. Think about it, so

Over the years, the output of tea and silk has increased to terrifying levels. The annual tea production in Funing Prefecture alone has reached 200,000 tons, which is four times more than during the Qianlong period. Such a large output is completely dependent on the foreign market. We

Can you not be led by the nose?"

"Pang heard with his own ears that the head of state in Funing said that we should help businessmen go out and provide us with a market. I think this is an opportunity."

Pang Jiasi was originally a local comprador, but now he is a fan of Dong Liang.

After listening to Dong Liang's speech that day, he went to find a set of "A Letter to the Chinese Compatriots" written by Dong Liang to read through.

It doesn't matter if you don't read it. After studying it carefully, Pang Jiasi felt that his situation was completely opened.

"Haha, Shopkeeper Pang can't be the sitter sent by that person, right?" said a slender-faced gentry. This man's family mainly engaged in farming and did not like Dong Liang's policies.

"Zhang Yuanwai, the head of state also talked about the matter of dividing the land. We now have more than 20 million people in Fujian Province, which is seven or eight times more than when the founding of the People's Republic of China. But there are only so many fields. If it weren't for these years,

People have been going to sea all the time, and this Fujian province has long been in chaos. Instead of forcing the people to be in chaos and cutting off the family's incense, it is better to

It's better to take the compensation to open factories and trade. Those big foreign merchant families have a status comparable to kings. The East India Company is more like a country that controls a large amount of land overseas. So what if your family has thousands of hectares of fertile land?

A piece of land is as big as several state capitals." Pang Jiasi retorted.

He said a lot of good things for the Chinese people today. It was not Dong Liang's instigation, but Pang Jiasi believed that these words would definitely reach Dong Liang's ears.

"The head of state has arrived..."

At this time, the sound of announcement came from outside Wanghai Tower.

Everyone quickly stood up and walked out. At this time, no matter whether you are close to the Chinese or not, you must not fall behind others in terms of etiquette.

When Dong Liang walked into the hall on the first floor of Wanghai Tower, the hall, which could accommodate one or two hundred people, was filled with dazzling brocade clothes.

Everyone who can enter here is either rich or noble.

Dong Liang didn't like class differentiation, but he had to admit that no matter how far society developed, there would always be classes.

People can be divided into smart, dull, hard-working and lazy. In the end, some people will stand out and assume greater social responsibilities. These people are the higher class, while more ordinary people build the bottom foundation of society.

The people he met today, including the previous academy representatives, were considered the elite of Fujian Province.

Dong Liang could weaken the privileges of these people and allow those at the bottom to receive more social benefits, but he had to rely on these people to govern Fujian Province.

"See the head of state!" Everyone saluted Dong Liang together.

Dong Liang also smiled and waved.

Pang Jiasi and Pei Guiyun looked at Dong Liang with fanatical admiration.

Mo Weijiang was sizing up Dong Liang. He had seen countless people, but this young man was hard to see through.

Others just think that the head of state is too young, but he also exudes a sense of maturity.

"Everyone, please take a seat." Dong Liang sat down in the upper seat that had been prepared. The businessmen and gentry below also sat in order. There were two rows of people sitting in front of Dong Liang. These were all prominent figures. Behind these people were

The third and third floors were full of people, but there were no seats on these floors.

Everyone looked at Dong Liang eagerly, waiting for the head of state to speak.

Dong Liang's opening remarks seemed to be different. His expression seemed to be reminiscing: "Six months ago, I took people to Fuzhou City to pick up a friend. At that time, foreign warships happened to come to Fuzhou to provoke. The Manchu army shrank.

Inside the city, those foreigners were allowed to wreak havoc outside the city. At the foot of Gushan Mountain, countless houses were burned down by foreigners, and countless people were massacred. Although I did not lead many people, I still took action resolutely and drove away these bandits."

"Everyone, what do you think of the imperial court and the government? Is it just sitting on everyone's head and collecting taxes? When you take goods, you will ask the escort to protect you. After the escort collects the money, should you fight to the death to protect the safety of the goods?

If an escort agency encounters a robber and just abandons the owner of the goods and runs away, can such an escort agency continue to operate?"

"In the same way, when the government collects taxes, is it to protect its own people? If it cannot even do this, is it necessary for the court to continue to exist?"

"Now that the world is in chaos, the Taiping Army is entrenched in the Yangtze River. Some people may know that they have sent troops to the north to attack the capital, and the Nian Army in Huaihe and Huaihe has also dominated one side. Why is this happening? This is what the Manchu Qing court told foreigners ten years ago.

Everyone must be deeply aware of the disasters laid by surrender. Over the years, foreign ships have come one after another, and our business has grown bigger and bigger, but life has not become easier."

Dong Liang was very good at teaching. He regarded the gentry sitting below as his students, and taught them step by step, making them understand their situation step by step.

"To put it bluntly, we used to be slaves of the imperial court, but now the foreigners have come and are putting pressure on us. The foreigners have never thought about doing business with us on an equal footing. They just want to extract profits from us."

"If you don't say anything else, if you just engage in the tobacco and soil business, isn't that just robbing us of our money? You should be able to understand that money has become more and more expensive in recent years. This is because the silver in our hands is decreasing."

"In order to make money, we work hard to grow tea and raise silkworms, so that these foreigners can wear silk clothes and leisurely drink afternoon tea in teahouses in the afternoon. Growing tea and raising silkworms occupy a large area of ​​land and farmland.

The people have less and less food to eat."

"If you don't have enough to eat, everyone will naturally rise up and rebel. You don't have to worry about not having enough food. However, when the people rebel and the government cannot respond in time, who will suffer in the end? It's not you. The people here.

If you don’t have food to eat, you will naturally eat the rich.”
Chapter completed!